Will Ebikes become a disposable epidemic in the future

[Andy in Germany]

Well yes you are correct.

However how many non e bikes purchased today will still be in active use 5 years from today ?
I'm thinking particularly about budget bikes - much frowned upon (and rightly so in some cases) however they probably make up a decent % of new bike sales and are generally unusable after a year or two at the most.

I guess the same people who go to Aldi and buy a 150 € "Full suspension mountain bike" will now go back and buy a 1000 € Ebike with a no-name motor.

 

[Andy in Germany]

The whole longevity and recycling options for an ebike is an interesting thought and one that often goes through my head when I'm out riding. I suspect ebikes are no worse than any other bike.
Longevity used to be a given for cycles but since more manufacturers have moved to proprietary systems this has started to fail. Ebikes are the same only with more parts that won’t be available as replacement, or if they are are uneconomic to do so.
So that leaves recycling. I expect the batteries and motors can be recycled easily enough, likewise the steel frame, but how and where this happening is another matter.
All the ancillaries that wear out and get broken (chains, cassettes, wheels etc) are like any bike - they go in the scrap metal skip.
The big problem is still carbon fibre - other than landfill there still isn't much you can economically do with the stuff.
Despite cries to the contrary I'm not convinced cycling is a particularly green activity, it's just slightly better than others. Provided you avoid carbon fibre that is.

Longevity is still better for normal bikes, unless they are cheap and poor quality, but that's always been the case; most manufacturers use standard parts although even then there's lots of variation. Cube seems to like to make their own parts for some reason, but it they are exception not the rule.

We have a whole book of pictures of gear mech hangers though: I really don't understand that.

Motors can be repaired and recycled but importantly, not by local shops, and batteries as I said, are hazardous good and need to be handled very carefully.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Despite cries to the contrary I'm not convinced cycling is a particularly green activity, it's just slightly better than others. Provided you avoid carbon fibre that is.

It depends. If you're riding as a hobby or sport and use a car for general transport, then probably not. If you use the bike for transport instead of a car, then it is far less damaging simply because bikes require less energy to build and run, the parts likewise are less resource intensive, and at the end of its life the bike is much easier to recycle, again requiring less energy.

In use a bike causes essentially zero noise and air pollution, and doesn't damage the road it travels on, You can also fit more bikes into the same space, either in motion or parked, meaning less space it required, especially important in a city.

So again, if it's a racing or hobby bike for someone who normally drives there's probably no benefit unless it reduces their car use, but as a form of transport, it's a game changer.

 

[Mike_P]

Theres an opportunity for some battery supplier to come with a range of ebike batteries that should fit the majority of ebikes with convertor connectors and casing addons for different ebikes.

 

[Drago]

Theres an opportunity for some battery supplier to come with a range of ebike batteries that should fit the majority of ebikes with convertor connectors and casing addons for different ebikes.

Its a nice idea, but most of these systems run a form of CANBUS flr bicycles. Thats fine, except no two manufacturers use the same standards, and efen the same manufactuers change things quite radically with each new design.

So, even if adaptors etc were made no one battery would communicate with any system that wasnt specifically designed tk accommodate it.

 

[Mike Ayling]

Recently spent two weeks with our son in Belgium.
Many people of all ages there ride bikes and a high proportion are ebikes.
Doing the daily shopping.

 

[rogerzilla]

The e-bikes with batteries in the down tube - you know, the ones that almost look like aero road racing bikes - presumably use very specialised custom batteries and would be almost impossible to refurbish. Ok, you can still pedal them, but then they're worse than a normal bike due to the weight.

 

[Punkawallah]

Watched an interesting video on t’YouTube just yesterday. Chap reckoned that, with modern bikes (including e-bikes), you are buying into a supply system. You have no idea when any of the (often proprietary) parts will become unavailable, if you can buy them at all.
With an 80’s steel bike you can fairly well guarantee to find - some - sort of suitable replacement, 40 odd years down the line, because there was at least - some - standardisation.

If I were to get an e-bike, I would go for the Swytch product or similar. Then if it all goes Tango Uniform I can swap the original wheels back in and carry on.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Watched an interesting video on t’YouTube just yesterday. Chap reckoned that, with modern bikes (including e-bikes), you are buying into a supply system. You have no idea when any of the (often proprietary) parts will become unavailable, if you can buy them at all.
With an 80’s steel bike you can fairly well guarantee to find - some - sort of suitable replacement, 40 odd years down the line, because there was at least - some - standardisation.

This might be true for a few race bikes, where there are integrated cockpits and weird seat posts. But it's not true for the vast majority of bikes for the simple reason that bike manufacture and component manufacture are separate. Shimano, Sram, Campag, Microshift, Tektro etc all supply many different bike manufacturers. Unless they take control of all parts, a manufacturer cannot lock you into a proprietary "supply system" and it would be prohibitively expensive for them to do so.

If you buy a randomly chosen mass market bike right now and lets say it's equipped with SRAM kit. There will be nothing stopping you from swapping out that kit for Shimano should you so wish.

I can imagine that with ebikes there is much more latitude for proprietary components. I don't know.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

At least the Fazua motor bits (or at least a majority of it) can be removed easily from the downtube (and replaced with a cover) to convert for example the Boardman ebikes from a few years ago into standard bikes, shame Fazua was dropped by their owner recently (Porsche?).

Rather more fiddly on my GT, with integrated downtube battery and Mahle rear hub motor.